Ghosts of the Past
by WillemDawson64
Summary: After 100 year old Rose told the story about the Titanic she didn't die. She wondered what life could still has in store for her. The soul of Jack Dawson waits impatiently. Brock Lovett and Lizzy Calvert have feelings for each other, but Brock carries a secret that could change everything.
1. Chapter 1

_**(A/N: This is my first story, I hope you like it! English is not my first language. I do my best of course but there may still be some errors here and there. I'm not perfect after all. Enjoy!)**_

**Chapter 1**

_14 april 1912 11:45 P.M._

Max was standing on the beach and saw the chaos around him. Officers were at a loss and he wondered what the reason was. Max walked up to one of them and asked what was going on.

"The Titanic, the unsinkable ship, has hit an iceberg and is going down, 2200 souls on board, can you imagine?" the officer answered.

The Titanic? Sinking? Max didn't think that was possible. He heard the officers talking about preparations that should be made after the _Carpathia _returned from picking up survivors. Nobody was paying attention to him, so Max sneaked away to his own rowing boat, climbed on board and rowed himself on the sea.

Max rowed for hours. Looking around him he only saw water, freezing water. Max maneuvred himself between the icebergs and kept on rowing. Eventually he noticed fireworks on the horizon. Distress signals of the Titanic. Max rowed with all the strength he had and eventually he saw the majestic ship going under the water. What a disaster. Max knew that hundreds of people were in the water fighting for their lives now.

Max continued rowing hard, afraid of what awaited him once he was close enough….

_15 april 1912 2:30 A.M._

Rose layed on her back on the door in the water and looked upon the starry sky.

"Come Josephine in my flying machine..." she was humming quietly while staring at the hundreds of stars. Until she heard a noise.

"is there anyone alive out there? Can anyone hear me?" she heard an officer screaming. A lifeboat. Finally. She and Jack were saved! She turned around to Jack, who had his eyes closed.

"Jack! Jack. Jack. Jack, there's a boat. Jack. Jack?" said Rose desperate to Jack. He didn't respond. His eyes stayed closed.

The truth slowly dawned on Rose, but she wouldn't believe it. She began to shake Jack.

"Jack. Jack! Jack. There's a boat, Jack. Jack?" She said crying. Jack didn't respond. Rose was desperate. Meanwhile the lifeboat continued rowing, almost out of hearing distance.

Something has to happen quickly. However, Rose didn't want to continue living. She layed her head in Jack's arms and was ready to die with him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw how the lifeboat rowed further and further away from here.

She then remembered the promise she made to Jack. He sacrificed himself so she could live, living a life like she wanted. She made a decision. She turned her head to Jack again and whispered:

"I'll never let go. I promise" while she let go of him. She saw how he sank, how the love of her life disappeared from view. She held the tears back, it was now or never.

She let herself slip from the door into the water and quickly swam to the dead chief officer. She took his whistle and blew hard and long until the officer on the lifeboat turned around and saw her.

When the boat was back they took her on board and buried her under a warm blanket.

Max had changed into a diver a few minutes ago. He rowed until he arrived at the scene and he saw a few officers pulling a young redheaded woman into their boat and after that they continued rowing. Max saw his chance. He dived under water and looked around him. A few meters further on he saw a young man slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean. He swam to him, took him under his shoulders and pulled him up to his boat. He layed him down and put him under blankets, put he was afraid he was to late. He took off his diving equipment and rowed as fast as possible back to New York.

_15 april 1912 5:35 A.M._

Max arrived at the pier where he fastened his rowboat. He carried the body of the young man over his shoulders and went to his modest house. He wondered if his experiment wouldn't be pointless and whether his chosen patient wasn't already dead. He didn't hope so. When he finally arrived in the proper room he turned on the light. In the light of the room a laboratory became visible. Max' eye fell on some sort of refrigerator on the ground. He opened the refrigerator, layed the body in it and closed it. Max looked on the display on the side.

_1% alive _it said. Excellent, he thought, this will work. He pushed the blue button and on the display the word _frozen _was added. Max knew that his secret experiment was a succes. Now he had good hope that he finally could become the successfull progressive scientist that he always wanted to be.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_27 february 1996 9:00 P.M._

Brock Lovett watched the water. Three years he thought about the Titanic. Three years he was looking for the diamond that was known as "the Heart of the Ocean". All without knowing the real story. The story that the one hundred year old Rose Dawson Calvert had just told him. A tear ran down his cheeks. He admonished himself and wiped the tear away. Lizzy Calvert stood next to him.

"I'm sorry" she said.

"Three years I thought of nothing except Titanic, but I never got it. I never let it in" Brock answered with tears in his eyes. Lizzy smiled to him and he smiled back. Lizzy returned to her room. Once he was alone, Brock looked deep in the ocean while thinking. He made a decision.

_28 february 1996 2:00 A.M._

Rose woke up and immediately began crying. Lizzy woke up and bend over to her grandmother.

"Nana, what's going on?" she asked.

"I dreamed about him Lizzy. About Jack. Every night I dream the same thing. Me being on board of the Titanic like it had never sunk. Walking upon the stairs until he turns around to face me. Holding out his hand for me to take it. We kiss each other and at that moment I wake up again!" Rose said crying.

"O Nana" said Lizzy with tears in her eyes.

"I had hoped that I would die tonight. I told that story about the Titanic because I hoped to finally have some closure. I thought I could die peacefully after that" Rose said.

"Maybe this means that you're not done in this World Nana" Lizzy said encouraging.

"For what in this world should I continue to live? My husband is dead. My two sons are dead. My daughter-in-law is dead. You're a grown up woman who doesn't need me anymore. I'm almost one hundred and one years old. I have done everything that I ever wanted to do in my life. What could life still has in store for me?" Rose wondered out loud.

_28 february 1996 8:00 A.M._

As soon as the _Akademik Mstislav Keldysh _arrived at New York Brock, his team, Lizzy and Rose stepped off board. Brock said goodbye to Lizzy and Rose and saw them leave for California. Brock walked to his parental house where his brother now lived after their parents had moved to a different address.

When he arrived his brother Albert came outside.

"Brock! And, did you find that diamond?" Albert asked.

"No Albert, and I'm not going to" Brock answered with a lump in his throat.

Albert took a good look at his brother. "Is everything alright Brock?" Albert asked worried.

"I'm alright. I just want to pick up some stuff from my old room" Brock answered.

"That's fine. I'm going to the scientific scholarship. See you later!" Albert said and he walked away.

Brock looked after him until he disappeared from view, sighed and walked through the garden to the house. He unlocked the door, opened it, stepped into the hall and closed the door.

Determined, Brock walked through the house. He had to check something. When he stood by the bookcase he pulled a hidden liver in the form of a book. The bookcase moved aside and revealed a staircase. At the bottom of the stairs Brock turned on the light. He oversaw the laboratory that his grandfather had created. Since his death Albert took over. Brock walked to the refrigerator in the middle of the room, where a young man layed inside. Brock looked on the display on the side: _1% alive, frozen _it said.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_2 june 1952_

Max was proud of himself. He had archieved his goal and was idolized by the World because of his numerous innovations and new insights in the field of science. He had established his own laboratory, bigger than the one under his own house.

However, because of all the attention his work required of him his original project in the laboratory under his house didn't get the same regard anymore. De body of the young man he saved from drowning still was completely preserved, exactly as he expected.

There was not much to do anyway. Max still hadn't figured out how to administer the required energy to get frozen bodies who weren't fully dead yet conscious again.

_8 november 1974 6:45 P.M._

Keith and his sons Albert and Max were sitting next to the deathbed of his father Max. With much difficulty, Max threw out his last words:  
"Keith…. My house….. is….. yours now…. The lab… underneath….. as well" Max said to his son. He turned to Albert and Brock: "keep…. An eye on….. your father….. Albert…..Brock….." Max said and not much later he was dead. The next day Max was buried. Afterwards, Keith, Albert and Brock returned home.

"You wait here" Keith said to his sons and he went to the laboratory under the house. Albert chased after him with Brock following not much behind. They arrived in the laboratory just in time. Their father was about to thaw the refrigerator.

"Father, don't do it!" Albert yelled. His father turned around, his hand near the blue button.

"Why not? He's been here long enough. Besides, even if we ever find out how to wake him up, everyone he knew is probably dead. We can't do that to him, can we?" Keith answered.

"Grandfather would have wanted us to finish his experiment. That we would find a way to wake him up. If we thaw him now grandfather had risked his own life to pull him out of the water all those years ago for nothing. We have to find a way to wake him, for grandfather!" Albert said.

Keith was convinced by Albert. he looked so much like Max and was an ambitious, young scientist as well.

"You're right Albert. You manage the laboratory from now on. You deserve it more than I do".

Albert was very happy. "Thank you father" he answered.

_28 februari 1996 8:15 A.M._

Brock was sitting on a chair next to the refrigerator and gazed at the body. 84 years frozen inside the refrigerator, 84 years completely preserved. Saved by his grandfather Max at the risk of his own life.

Brock never cared as much for science as Max and Albert. He was more like his father Keith for that matter. Brock hadn't thought about this body since he moved out of the house. Not until Rose told her story yesterday. Then he started to realise something Max had told him and Albert when they were kids. That he had pulled this body out of the water when it was sinking to the bottom.

At the time, Brock didn't cared much for that detail because he had assumed that more bodies had sank to the bottom. But the story of Rose brought up another detail of Max' story. Max had saved this body after he saw a young woman with red hair blowing a whistle and getting rescued. Brock had come to the conclusion that Max had saved Jack Dawson out of all people and that Jack Dawson was the frozen body located in the laboratory under his parental house. He couldn't tell Rose because he didn't want her to suffer a heart attack or gain hope. After all, Albert still hadn't figured out how to wake him. Brock believed it was about time that would change. Rose had moved him with her story. She had made him realize that there were things more important than money. She had changed his life and had given him other views.

Brock was determined to do something back: find a way to make Jack Dawson regain consciousness, so that he and Rose could see each other one last time. Furthermore, Brock thought of one of the worlds countless treasures still untraceable. Something that could help Jack and Rose….


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_15 april 1996 9:45 A.M._

Today it was exactly 84 years ago that the Titanic sank and when Jack Dawson was frozen by his grandfather Max, Brock thought. The perfect day to wake up again.

The last two months he stayed in regular contact with Lizzy and knew that Rose was still alive. Brock smiled at the thought of Lizzy, he has never fallen in love before in his live, but Lizzy triggered something in him.

Brock had told nothing about his plan to Albert, because he knew he would be stopped. Albert never wanted to take action unless he was 100% sure of the result, while Brock believed that sometimes you have to take risks and what he had in mind had a risk.

Brock planned to simultaneously thaw the refrigerator and electrify it. The worst that could happen was that Jack would die. Brock pushed that thought aside by thinking that Jack was supposed to be dead anyway.

Brock was standing next to the refrigerator with his left hand near the blue botten and his right hand holding an electrostick, invented by Albert, near an opening in the refrigerator.

Brock took a deep breath and simultaneously pushed the blue button and pressed the electrostick in the opening. White light temporarily filled the refrigerator and Brock pulled the electrostick out of the opening and looked at the display on the side. Minutes went by with nothing happening and Brock was worried…..

_15 april 1996 9:50 A.M._

Jack Dawson looked at the door in front of him. The door that was leading to Heaven but was locked. Jack cursed the door for not opening.

Jack turned around. Behind him was another door. Jack knew that a long corridor leading to life was behind that door, but that door was also locked.

The door leading to Heaven was still open when he walked to it from the long corridor, but when he was almost there and the door to the long corridor closed behind him, the door to Heaven also closed.

Jack didn't know what was going on. He didn't now whether he was alive or dead. Half a minute he was staring at the door in front of him. He wanted to move on. He wanted to be in Heaven to wait for Rose, who hopefully would not arrive until many years later if she would keep her promise to him. If he has to stay here all that time he would never see her again.

He shook the door to Heaven, but it didn't opened. Jack was shaking his head when he heard a noise behind him. Jack turned around and was surprised to see the door to the long corridor opening.

"Rose…" Jack murmured and he started walking through the corridor. He quickened his pace and eventually he started running. He was running as fast as he could through the corridor and expected to regain consciousness any moment….

_15 april 1996 9:50 A.M._

Brock was fixing his eyes on the display of the refrigerator. _1% alive _it still said. Brock lowered his head. He knew he had gambled and he had lost, and any moment the display could say _0% alive. _He looked at the display again but without hope.

But then something happened. _2% alive _the display now said. Brock went to sit straight, his eyes fixed on the display. Had he succeeded after all? Brock didn't dare to believe it. The percentage slowly rised up. After one minute it said _5% alive_.

Brock hoped it would go a little faster eventually. After another minute it said _9% alive. _Hurry up, Brock thought impatiently. The percentage went up a little faster now. Another minute later there stood _35% alive _on the display. The percentage continued to rise up steadily. Two minutes later the display said _100% alive_.

Brock opened the refrigerator and saw the young man open his eyes.

"Hello, my name is Brock Lovett, could you please tell me your name?" Brock asked the young man.

"Dawson. Jack Dawson" Jack answered. Brock felt like jumping in the air but he refrained himself with a smile from ear to ear.

"Welcome back Jack" he said. Jack looked at him, confused.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_15 april 1996 10:00 A.M._

Jack was sitting in living room and looked around. It was a cozy house, with a crackling fire, bookcases and objects he never saw before. Jack was confused.

Brock Lovett returned from the kitchen with two cups of hot chocolate. He gave one to Jack and sat on a chair to face him. Jack looked at Brock and carefully took a sip. The stuff was heating him from head to toe and tasted delicious. Brock looked at him, smiling.

"How does it taste?" he asked.

"Delicious. I really needed that after that cold" Jack answered. "Where am I?"

"In the house of my brother Albert Lovett, in New York" Brock answered.

New York. The destination of the Titanic, Jack knew. Then he was thinking about Rose again. Rose DeWitt Bukater. Had she survived? She had promised him. Jack had to know.

"Mister Lovett…" he started.

"Brock. Call me Brock" Brock corrected him.

"Brock, I was wondering… if… could you tell me if Rose DeWitt Bukater has survived?"

"She wasn't on the list of survivors, but there was another Rose on it…. Rose Dawson" Brock answered.

Rose Dawson? But he was the only Dawson on board of the Titanic, Jack knew. Had Rose adopted his name to be untraceable for her mother and Cal? That had to be the case. Jack couldn't suppress a smile thinking about Rose having his name now.

"Jack, I have to tell you something…" Brock began hesitantly.

"What?" Jack asked, still with a smile on his face.

"There's something that you need to know. I'm not the one who saved you from the water, nor was it my brother Albert"

Jack looked at him, confused. He had thought that Brock had saved him from the water since he was watching over him when he woke up. Once again, Jack looked around him. Something strange was going on. And all those objects he never saw before….

"Who then?" Jack asked, a little scared of the answer.

"My grandfather Maxwell Lovett. Everyone called him Max. He was eighteen years old when he had saved you from death at the risk of his own life" Brock began. He took a deep breath and continued.

"He was a starting scientist and he saw a project in you. He took you with him to this house and preserved your body in his First invention. You were only 1% alive. If he had waited ten minutes longer you would be dead"

Jack heard Brock talking but he couldn't believe it. he didn't want to believe it.

"But….. I almost died less than a minute ago! I was staring at the door leading to Heaven for no longer than 60 seconds. How is this possible?"

A voice at the front door answered. "You were in an intermediate World between life and death. Normally, people never stay there longer than a minute before the soul gets included in Heaven. In your case that was impossible because you weren't 100% dead yet. That's why your soul was stuck in that intermediate World and then every minute is automatically removed from the memory and consciousness of the soul. So you only remember the current minute. That's why it felt like no longer than 60 seconds" the man who answered walked up to Jack to shake his hand. "My name is Albert Lovett"

"Jack Dawson" Jack answered and he shook Albert's hand.

"Brock, can I have a word with you please?" Albert asked Brock.

"Yes. I'll join you in ten minutes" Brock answered and Albert went to the upper Floor. Brock looked at Jack again.

"What…. Year is it?" Jack asked.

"Today it's 15 april 1996 Jack. Exactly 84 years after the Titanic sank to the bottom of the ocean" Brock answered.

1996\. Rose was seventeen in 1912, 84 years ago…. Then she has to be…. One hundred and one now. If she was still alive. Jack had never heard of someone reaching one hundred.

Jack cleared his throat. "Is Rose still alive Brock?"

Brock took a deep breath. "Yes Jack, she's still alive. Last month she celebrated her one hundred and First birthday. Two months ago she had told me your story. The story of the Titanic"

Jack put his empty cup on the table next to him and stood up. "I have to see her" he said.

"Jack…" Brock began. "She thinks you're dead. She is over a hundred!"

"I don't care. I love her. She's the love of my life. I have to see her, I need to see with my own eyes that she has kept her promise to me"

_15 april 1996 11:00 A.M._

"Do you need anything Nana?" Lizzy asked Rose.

"No dear. I'm fine" Rose answered and she started concentrating on her pottery.

Lizzy walked back inside. The Phone rang. Lizzy walked over to pick it up. According to the display it was Brock who called. Lizzy picked up immediately.  
"Hello Brock, Lizzy speaking"

"Hello Lizzy. Can I drop by tomorrow?" Brock's voice asked.

"Yes. Why?" Lizzy asked curious.

"I can't tell you over the Phone" Brock answered.

"A surprise?" Lizzy asked happily. She loved surprises.

"You could call it that I suppose" Brock answered.

"I can't wait. See you tomorrow!" Lizzy said.

"See you tomorrow!" Brock answered and Lizzy hang up. She walked back to the balcony.

"Who was that on the Phone dear? You sounded quite happy?" Rose asked.

"That was Brock. He's coming tomorrow with a surprise" Lizzy answered.

"A surprise? That sounds very exciting dear" said Rose. Lizzy walked back inside to be alone with her thoughts. She always had bad luck with the men in her life. All of them only wanted a quick shag. She did have a few boyfriends, but one by one, those relations blew up. She gave up on love a long time ago, until she had met Brock Lovett two months ago and her Nana had told the story about her and jack on the Titanic. She had stayed in regular contact with Brock for the next two months and she noticed that she kept thinking about Brock. She was starting to fall in love with him.

_16 april 1996 13:00 A.M._

Jack and Brock had arrived at a large house. Today was the First time that Jack had traveled by airplane. He had listened to Brock with open mouth when he said it took five hours by airplane from New York to Los Angeles. Jack remembered the travel time in 1912 had been approximately eighty-five hours. Jack had been sitting next to the window and had enjoyed the cloudfields and the shining sun once they were in the air. And all the time he was thinking about Rose.

However, standing before her house now Jack couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

"Are you ready Jack?" Brock asked.

"I think so. Just a little nervous" Jack answered.

"No need. Come on, let's go" Brock said. He took Jack by the shoulder and together they walked to the front door. Brock rang the bell and they waited.

The door was opened by a young woman, Jack placed her in her early thirties, with long blonde hair and blue eyes. Her eyes looked so much like Rose's so she must be Rose's granddaughter Brock spoke off. She opened the door smiling but now her facial expression changed into a surprised one. She looked from Jack to Brock and back to Jack.

Brock cleared his throat:

"Lizzy, I know this will sound crazy, but…."

Lizzy interrupted, "Brock, who's this?" she asked, nodding to Jack.

Brock answered whispering, "Lizzy, this is Jack Dawson".

Lizzy stared at him full of disbelief. She looked at Jack from head to toe. Jack sensed that she didn't believe Brock. He couldn't blame her, he wouldn't believe it himself.

"Is Rose home as well?" Brock asked whispering.

"Come inside and sit. I'll go get her" Lizzy whispered in turn and she stood aside for them to walk inside. She then went in the direction of the bedroom. When she was almost there she turned around and whispered to Brock "You have some explaining to do".

Rose was sitting in the bedroom looking out of the window when the door opened and Lizzy came in. She came across as quite nervous. Rose took a good look at her.

"Lizzy dear, is everything alright?" she asked.

"I don't know. Nana, Brock has arrived" Lizzy answered.

"O that's nice dear. O I almost forgot, he had a surprise for you, hadn't he?" Rose asked and it dawned on her. "Was it not a nice surprise? Is that why you're upset?" she continued.

"It's not that. It turns out that that surprise concerns you as well. Would you come along to the kitchen?" Lizzy asked with a concerned look on her face.

"You make me curious Lizzy. Yes, I'll come along" Rose answered. She stood up from her chair and grabbed her walking stick. When she was standing before Lizzy she took Rose gently by the shoulders.

"Nana, whatever happens, promise me…. That you won't faint or suffer a heart attack alright?" she said while looking at Rose. Rose looked at her, terrified. What kind of surprise is this? Why would she get a heart attack from it? Rose was confused, but she reassured Lizzy.

"I promise Lizzy. Now, shall we go to the kitchen?"

Lizzy didn't seem quite reassured just yet but she led Rose to the kitchen. Rose walked behind her slowly and arrived in the kitchen. There were two man sitting at the dinner table. One was Brock without doubt and the other….

Rose stared full of disbelief to the man next to Brock. No, that couldn't be true. A young man with blonde hair falling to his eyes. Striking blue eyes he had, and a beautiful face. A face Rose hadn't seen in 84 years. He didn't look a year older than twenty. Impossible, Jack Dawson was her, alive and well, in her living room! Rose let her walking stick fell to the ground.

Rose's walking stick fell on the ground clattering. Lizzy grabbed her by the shoulders and put her on a chair opposite Jack. Lizzy sat on the chair next to her, opposite Brock. Jack looked at Rose, his Rose, even though that sounded a little weird now that she could have been his great-grandmother. Meanwhile, Rose could do nothing except staring at Jack with her beautiful blue eyes. Jack was relieved that she didn't got a heart attack. In the meantime, Lizzy was looking at Brock and cleared her throat.

"Brock, what's the meaning of all this?" she asked while looking at Brock with piercing eyes.

Brock cleared his throat and started his story.

"Well, it all started with my grandfather"

"Your grandfather?" Lizzy asked.

"Maxwell Lovett. Everone called him Max. I reckon you've heard of him?" Brock asked.

Rose turned her glance away from Jack and answered. "The famous scientist? What does he have to do with this?"

"Rose, you've probably heard of his First project? The project that ensured he could turn his hobby into his profession?" Brock asked.

"He had dug up a fresh corpse somewhere and preserved it. Wherever he got that corpse from wasn't standing in the article and there wasn't a picture either. At the time, I had too much grief over Jack to think much about it. I assumed he had robbed a graveyard" Rose answered.

Jack listened to Rose with tears in his eyes. She had mourned him. She was probably depressed for a long time. Not that Jack could blame her. He would be too if the situation was reversed and he had lost Rose. Jack wanted to take Rose's hand, but something stopped him from doing so.

Brock continued: "Rose, Lizzy, that wasn't just a body. My grandfather hadn't robbed it from some graveyard. He had his own rowboat and he rowed himself up the sea as soon as he heard the Titanic had hit an iceberg. He had diving equipment and warm blankets at hand. He arrived when the ship had sunk and he saw a young woman being saved by a lifeboat. After that, he dived under water at the risk of his own life and pulled a young man out of the water who was slowly sinking to the bottom. He was lifting him on board of his rowboat and burried him under the warm blankets. He was barely alive" Brock finished with a lump in his throat.

Rose stared at him. "And that was…. Jack?" she asked while looking at Jack again.

Brock nodded. "My grandfather rowed back to New York as fast as he could and arrived in the early morning. He brought Jack to the secret laboratory under his house. Located inside that laboratory was an invention that he had worked on for two years and was finally ready for use. It was some sort of refrigerator in which you could freeze people and thus preserve them. After he had placed Jack inside the refrigerator he was only for 1% alive according to the display. My grandfather then pushed a button to freeze him".

Brock took some time to wipe his eyes before he continued.

"After my grandfathers passing my father wanted to thaw Jack so that he would die, but my brother Albert kept him from doing so. My father gave the laboratory to my brother because he didn't care for sciene himself. Our grandfather was Alberts role model and he swore to wake Jack again to fulfill the work that our grandfather started. I went out of the house a year later and never thought about Jack again. Years later I was a famous treasure hunter and my eye fell on the Heart of the Ocean. Eventually that resulted in the story you told me, my team and Lizzy Rose".

Brock took a deep breath and continued.

"For the First time since I was eighteen, I thought about the frozen body under my parental house where my brother now lived since the moving of our father. I remembered the story my grandfather had told about the night the Titanic sank. In combination with Rose's story I came to the conclusion that Jack Dawson was the body my grandfather had found and preserved. On my own initiative and without knowledge of my brother, I had thawed Jack and woke him up. Afterwards, my brother was angry that I hadn't notified him about my plan and that he wasn't there when Jack woke up. Then I asked Lizzy if I could come here today and now we're all sitting here".

There fell a silence after Brocks story. Jack, Rose and Lizzy all looked at him for quite some time. Eventually, Lizzy broke the silence.

"Brock? Shall we go to the balcony?" she asked while nodding to Jack and Rose.

"O…. yes, that's fine" Brock answered, getting the hint. He and Lizzy stood up and left Jack and Rose alone.

After Brock and Lizzy had left Rose looked at Jack again. She still couldn't comprehend it at all. Maxwell Lovett had saved Jack out of the water! And his grandson Brock had thawed and woke him up after he heard her story. Jack still looked the same. Rose felt the tears welling up in her eyes. She had waited for so long to be reunited with him, but she had thought that would be in Heaven, not on earth, when she could die any moment. Jack looked at her, saw the tears and grabbed her hand. Rose felt the warmth of his hands, a warmth she hadn't felt in 84 years. She became calm straight away and looked at Jack again.

Jack let her hand go. "So…. You kept your promise?" he asked.

Suddenly, Rose felt guilty. Guilty for having had another man. "It…. was never easy Jack. There hadn't been a minute I did not think about you. In the beginning, I didn't know how I could ever live without you. Later, I figured that you had sacrifised yourself so I could live, that gave me strength. The strength to go on. I met Howard Calvert in 1919 and got two sons with him. The youngest later became Lizzy's father" Rose told.

Jack smiled. He looked around him. His gaze fell on the many pictures on the dresser. Jack stood up and knelt by the dresser. Rose grabbed her walking stick and walked over next to him.

Jack saw the picture where Rose learned how to ride a horse. He pointed to the picture and looked at Rose. "Riding a horse like I told you: one leg on each side." He laughed. Jack looked at the picture next to it, where Rose posed as a pilot. "That picture was taken right after I steered an airplane as a pilot" Rose explained. Jack smiled at the picture. Together, Rose and Jack went through all the pictures. Rose reminisced about her life. Finally, they had discussed all the pictures.

Jack looked at Rose. "I'm proud of you Rose. You did exactly what you have promised me: you lived your own life and never returned to that First class cage".

Rose nodded, lost in thoughts. Was this why she didn't die after she had told the story about the Titanic? So she could see Jack one last time? No, that couldn't be it. If that was the reason it would be cruel: now she would have to wait for him to go to Heaven instead of the other way around. No, she couldn't think that way. Jack had made her promise to live her own life and she has done that. Soon, she would die an old lady warm in her bed.

Suddenly it hit her why she had to stay alive. She still had something to do. She cleared her throat.

"Jack, I have made you a promise 84 years ago that I would go on with my life. I have kept my promise. Any moment I can die an old lady warm in her bed. But before I go you have to promise me something as well Jack".

"What?" Jack asked, even though he could guess what Rose was about to say.

"I didn't always kept my promise Jack. I fell in a depression. I could only think about you and couldn't make peace with the past. Not until some years later. Don't make the same mistake I did back then. Don't mourn me too long after I'm gone. You already had a free spirit before you knew me Jack, that's why I fell in love with you. Promise me you'll become happy again Jack: make friends, find a sweet girl to marry, make a family. You will be an amazing father Jack… I remember how good you were with little Cora on the Titanic, you were a natural. And eventually you will die an old man warm in his bed".

Jack looked at her with big eyes. He saw this coming, but he didn't know if he could make that promise.

"Rose," he began. "I… don't know if I can promise that. You were and are perfect. I don't know if I could ever fall in love with another".

Rose took his hand. "Jack, you can. If I could do it eventually, so can you. Promise me Jack…. And then we can be together forever after you'll die" she said.

Jack looked at her and gave her hand a little squeeze. "I promise Rose".


	6. Chapter 6 part 1

**Chapter 6**

_1 august 1996 _

The past three months Jack felt like a little child at school who had to learn everything. Almost everything was new to him, but Brock was a good and patient teacher. Jack learned how to handle himself in a modern kitchen, how to handle Household items, how a Phone worked and how to amuse himself with a television, a CD-player and the computer. At the beginning it was difficult, but Jack was a quick learner and he was getting better and better. Lizzy also visited frequently to see how Jack was and to spend time with Brock. Everytime Lizzy visited Jack asked her about Rose and everytime Lizzy said she was still alive. Jack was very grateful to Brock for all he had done for him. He remembered how Brock explained Jacks presence in his house to his best friend when he came to visit….

_The doorbell rang. Brock opened the door: there stood his best friend Kevin Wilson. _

"_Hey Brock! How are you buddy?" he asked laughing while embracing Brock. _

"_Excellent Kevin. How are you?" Brock answered. _

"_I'm okay. That muscle strain of me is more stubborn than I First thou….", Kevin stopped talking when he looked at Jack. Jack saw his face changing in a confused one while looking back at Brock. _

"_Brock, who is this young man?" Brock looked quickly at Jack and then back to Kevin. He took a deep breath._

"_Kevin, may I introduce you to Jack Dawson? Jack, this is my good friend Kevin Wilson." Jack and Kevin shaked each others hand. _

"_How do you and Brock know each other, mister Dawson? Treasure hunting together?" Kevin asked friendly._

"_Call me Jack, and no. Money and riches don't mean anything to me"_

_Brock cleared his throat. "Jack has lost both his parents a couple of months ago" he told Kevin. _

"_I'm sorry Jack. But Brock, what does his parents death has to do with his presence in your house?" Kevin asked._

"_You remember our time in High school Kevin?" Brock asked hesitantly._

"_Of course I do. How could I forget? A couple of bad boys we where. Drove our teachers crazy you and me! And you drove me crazy Brock! Handsome young fellow you was, all the girls at school were in love with you!" _

"_You also remember who was the most handome girl at the school?" Brock asked._

"_Of course. Lindsey Jones. Oh I could still see her before my eyes…. Long black hair, light green eyes…. She was your female counterpart Brock: all the boys wanted her. And of course you had to be the one to win her over with your charisma. You both left the school when you were seventeen years old to travel abroad. A year long and heard nothing from you. And apparently when you finally came back there had been a heated argument between the both of you after which you broke with her. I believe she never recovered from that. A week later she was found death. Poor girl…" Kevin shaked his head. _

"_How do you get it done Brock? At least all of my ex girlfriends stayed alive after I broke up with them. Your one ex girlfriend commits suicide after you broke up!" _

"_She didn't commit suicide because I broke up with her Kevin. It is true she was unstable, but it was not THAT bad." Brock said while a tear was streaming down his cheek. _

_Kevin saw that Brock found it difficult to talk about. "I'm sorry Brock" he said hastily. Brock wiped his tear away and continued: "A couple of months after whe started our journey… she became pregnant with my child! I told her I didn't want a baby… but she refused to let it be taken away… nine months later, when our child was born, I forced her to give him away for adoption. Eventually she did it… but she was mentally broken from the loss of our child…. That's why whe argued… totally upset she took the First possible flight back to New York…. A few days later I went after her… she ran away from her parents house and was found death four days later….." _

_Kevin was standing there, speechless. "And the child…." He asked._

_Brock looked at him. "He was adopted by a loving couple… mister and miss Dawson…" _

_Kevin looked from Brock to Jack and back to Brock. He was so shocked he couldn't say anything. Eventually he managed to say something: "Brock…. I'm dissapointed in you. How c… how could you do that to Lindsey? Did you really think those treasures were more important than… than Lindsey? You just… dumped her! And you just gave….. gave your child away. As a piece of rubbish what's not…. Not important..." _

"_Kevin, Jack is her now. He has learned from the Dawsons that I'm his real father. Before…. Before they died. I'm trying to bond with him. If I'm truly a monster like you suggested, I would have slammed the door shut when he tried to contact me, wouldn't I?" Brock argued. _

"_No that would have been the last straw! Bit late eh, Brock? Trying to save what can be saved from your early mistakes? Lindsey is not coming back because of it! I…. I don't want anything to do with you anymore Brock!" Kevin said and after that he stormed out of the house….._

After that, Kevin had informed all of Brocks other friends of what Brock had "done" in the past, and just like Kevin all of those friends turned their back on Brock. However, Brock knew why Brock made up all that. If he had told the thruth, that Jack was a Titanic survivor who had been frozen for 84 years, the rest of his live Jack would have had the press after him, scientists from all over the World and all other forms of unwanted attention. Brock had saved him from all that at the cost of his own social life and his friends.

_3 august 1996 18:00 P.M._

Tonight, Jack would go out for the First time since he was thawed. He was a bit nervous, because he didn't know how people went out in 1996 and how different it was with how it was done in 1912. Jack looked at himself in the mirror of the guest room. He was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt with short sleeves. He did something in his hair at the front, so it wouldn't fall over his eyes anymore. He nodded at himself and turned around. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in" Jack said and Brock entered the room. Brock looked at him from head to toe.

"You're looking good Jack. I think you really have to throw the women off you. They will love you!"

"Aren't you coming along Brock?" Jack asked surprised.

"Unfortunately not. I'm meeting Lizzy in the library."

"If Lizzy is here, who's taking care of Rose?" Jack asked.

"A colleague from the school where Lizzy Works. Her name is Astrid and she has a good relationship with Rose. Rose is save with her."

Jack nodded, but he was worried. As if something will go terribly wrong. He took a deep breath and followed Brock downstairs.

Fifteen minutes later Jack was on his way to the pub two blocks away. While he was underway, he noticed that various young women were looking at him, one more strikingly dressed than the other. Jack started to walk faster and eventually he stood before the entrance to the pub. He took a deep breath, grabbed the door handle and stepped inside.

It was busy and nosy in the pub. With difficulty, Jack proceeded, under more gazes, to an empty barstool.

"What would you like?" the bartender asked: a really tall man of mid-50s with a huge beer belly.

"A beer please" Jack answered. The bartender took a glass from the shelf behind him, poured it over with beer and gave it to Jack.

"Thanks" Jack said before taking a little sip. He looked to the left and saw a young woman with long dark Brown hair and Brown eyes looking at him.

The woman smiled and she shook Jacks hand. "Carmen Donovan. You're Brock Lovett's son right? Yes I can see that. The Apple didn't fell far from the tree. Blonde hair, blue eyes…. A certain mischievousness around your face. I like that. Shall we go somewhere else? It's far too busy here, don't you think?"

Jack knew what this girl wanted. He was not stupid. "I'm sorry Carmen, but I'm not interested." He said and he took another sip from his beer.

"He probably doesn't like dark haired women Carmen. That's bad luck for you!" said a girls' voice to the right. Jack looked to the right and saw a blonde haired girl of seventeen years old, with green eyes. The blonde haired girl layed her hand on Jacks shoulder and started to massage it.

"Eh don't we have to introduce ourselves First before doing this kind of stuff?" Jack asked confused while the girls' hand now moved over his chest.

"There is still time for that, I don't want to do that now." The blonde haired girl answered while now throwing her right leg over Jacks legs. The leg ended with a feet that was put in an ankle boot. The girl was moving closer to Jack and wanted to kiss him on the lips, but Jack pushed her away.

"No, I don't want it!" he said with difficulty. Quickly, Jack paid his beer and stormed out of the pub. He was running as fast as he could, as far as possible away from that pub and her female visitors. It started to rain. Cold raindrops fell on Jacks head and his hair was hanging before his eyes again.

Jack found his way back to Brocks house. He turned the key in the hole, opened the door, stepped inside and closed the door. What a nightmare that was, Jack thought. Jack had hoped to find a girl with a normal, fun personality. Instead, he only met some sluts.

He thought about Rose and the promise he made her. He walked over to the window and stared at the many stars in the air. Jack felt as if his journey onboard the Titanic had only be taken place four months ago. The journey for which he and his _amico _Fabrizio won the tickets with a Lucky game of poker. The journey were he had been laying on a bench, watching that same starry sky before he saved a girl with long curling red hair from commiting suicide. A girl introducing herself as Rose DeWitt Bukater, who was stuck in an environment and an engagement she didn't want. The third class party where he fell in love with her, Jack felt, also happened only four months ago. Their First kiss at the front of the ship where he had learned her to fly, the naked portrait he draw from her, their love-making in a car… and everything that had to do with the sinking ship and where he would eventually lose his consciousness after he had gotten Rose safely on top of a floating door in the water… all happened four months ago…. But it actually happened 84 years ago and all that time Jack had been frozen. In those 84 years Rose, his Rose, had grown into a woman of 101 years old. Jack still found it difficult to comprehend all that.

Jack thought about the room with the closed door leading to heaven where he found himself stuck for 84 years. He wished that stupid door had just stayed open when he arrived in the room after walking through that long corridor, so that he could have walked through it and then wait for Rose. He wished that Maxwell Lovett had saved someone else for his experiment. A tear ran down his cheeck. Why? Why he had to be saved and then frozen in? Everyone he ever knew was dead. Tommy…. Fabrizio…. Helga….. Cora… only Rose was still alive and she was bound to die sometime soon. Then Jack would be all alone in this new time period. A time period where it would be, judging by the pub he was tonight, very difficult to find a new girlfriend like he had promised Rose. Let alone to become a father. Jack shaked his head and was staring angry and sad at the starry sky. Why was he saved? What did the World still has in store for him?


End file.
